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The European Union’s chief negotiator has said a deal on Brexit could be ‘possible’ by November.

Michel Barnier struck a decidedly more optimistic tone as we enter the 200-day countdown until the deadline on March 29 next year.

He said he wants to reach an agreement with Theresa May’s government on the first stage of the negotiation ‘within six or eight weeks’.

Caption: Brexit deal possible by November

Speaking at the Bled Strategic Forum in Slovenia, he said: ’The treaty is clear, we have two years to reach an agreement before they leave… in March 2019.

‘That means that taking into account the time necessary for the ratification process in the House of Commons on one side, the European Parliament and the Council on the other side, we must reach an agreement before the beginning of November. I think it is possible.’

It was a welcome boost for Downing Street, which had to defend the Prime Minister’s Chequers plan over fears it was causing a ‘catastrophic split’ in the Conservative Party.

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Former Brexit minister Steve Baker said he was ‘gravely concerned’ about a potential schism in the Tory ranks if Mrs May did not change direction.

The European Union’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier said a Brexit deal is ‘possible’ by November (Picture: Isopix/REX/Shutterstock)

Mr Baker said the party’s annual conference in Birmingham, starting on September 30, could prove a decisive moment as Mrs May is forced to acknowledge the scale of grassroots opposition to her proposals.

‘If we come out of conference with her hoping to get Chequers through on the back of Labour votes, I think the EU negotiators would probably understand that if that were done, the Tory party would suffer the catastrophic split which thus far we have managed to avoid,’ he said.